BACK FROM THE DEAD - Missing Tafelsig man who was said to have died is reunited with family

IMAGINE being told that your missing loved one had died, only to realise after arranging his funeral that the body you were about to bury belongs to someone else and then years later you are reunited with your brother through a missing person’s post.

That is the emotional rollercoaster ride a Tafelsig family experienced when they learned that their missing relative, who had disappeared, had been living op straat in St Helena Bay for the past five years.

Shameema Rudolph, 27, said that her brother Ebrahiem Rudolph, 35, disappeared from their home after battling drug addiction which impacted his mental health.

Then last Thursday, a picture of Ebrahiem was posted on Waar Brandit Inni Kaap’s Facebook page. 

A contact number was provided for a Derusha Smith who assisted Ebrahiem while in St Helena Bay.

The sister saw the post and commented: “Hi, this is Shameema. This is my brother Ebrahiem Rudolph, we [have] been searching for him all the years but did not find him, thank you very much."

She told the Daily Voice that she spent years looking for her brother all over, but never found a  trace of him.

Rudolph added: “Five years ago, Ebrahiem lived with my dad at my aunt’s house in Tafelsig, he started using drugs and snapped from his mind until he disappeared.

“One day the police contacted my mother who has now passed on and told her that Ebrahiem is dead.

“We organised a funeral and everything, but when my mother saw the body, it was the wrong person. We thought after five years, he had died.

“Last week Wednesday, 21 January, it was my birthday, I prayed to God and asked him to please show me that my brother is still with us, give me a vision or dream or any sign that he is still alive. The next morning when I woke up, I saw the post and saw my brother and that was when I replied to it.

“On Saturday morning, my dad and I went to town where we were reunited at the taxi rank. When I saw him, I was so overjoyed and excited, I just ran to him and he ran to me. We first took him home because it was not nice seeing him in that condition then admitted him to a medical facility for treatment.

“I am very happy we found my brother and that he is back home with us. I am thankful that there are still good people. He is not talking much at the moment because of the medication which makes him drowsy.”

Good Samaritan Derusha said as a mother she could not take it anymore seeing Ebrahiem live like that and had to make a plan.

She said: “Three weeks ago, I found him sleeping in a drain and I told him to get out. It broke my moederhart seeing him like that. 

“A girl who lives a few streets away from us was also very fond of Ebie, she would always try to assist him, she told me he is vannie Kaap and that was when I contacted Waar Brandit Inni Kaap to put up the post. 

“His family contacted me and I took him to Cape Town with train and taxi myself. We met up with his family on Saturday morning.”